RING OVERLAY NETWORK DEDICATED TO CARRY BROADCAST TRAFFIC TO DSLAMS

• US 20080080537A1
• Filed: 10/18/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hartman, David, Wan, Albert, Yasrebi, Mehrad, Ansari, Ahmad
• Granted Patent: US 8,144,721 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 2203/0042 Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 2203/008 Support of video
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 2203/0083 Support of the IP protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2861 Point-to-multipoint connection from the data network to the subscribers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/902 Packet switching

Abstract

A system includes a broadcast overlay network including a ring topology. The ring topology includes a first network ring and a second network ring that is coupled to the first network ring via at least one cross-connect element. The ring topology is adapted to carry broadcast traffic from a network. The system also includes a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) having a line interface and a network interface. The network interface is in communication with the broadcast overlay network via the second network ring. The DSLAM is adapted to receive a request for a particular video channel from a customer premise via the line interface and to deliver the particular video channel from the network interface to the line interface.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a broadcast overlay network comprising a ring topology, the ring topology including a first network ring and a second network ring that is coupled to the first network ring via at least one cross-connect element, the ring topology to carry broadcast traffic from a network; and

a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) having a line interface and a network interface, the network interface in communication with the broadcast overlay network via the second network ring, the DSLAM adapted to receive a request for a particular video channel from a customer premise via the line interface and to deliver the particular video channel from the network interface to the line interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the DSLAM is further adapted to determine an availability of the particular video channel based at least in part on data provided by the request.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the data comprises at least one of a group address and a class-D Internet Protocol (IP) address.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the request comprises an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) request message.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second network ring comprises a synchronous optical network (SONET) ring.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the SONET ring comprises an egress Add-Drop Multiplexer (ADM), the egress ADM in communication with the network interface of the DSLAM.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, via a line interface of a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), a request for a particular video channel;

receiving video content associated with the particular video channel from a video head-end at the DSLAM via a broadcast overlay network having a ring topology, the ring topology including at least a first network ring and a second network ring, wherein the first network ring and the second network ring are coupled via at least one cross-connect element; and

delivering the video content associated with the particular video channel received at the DSLAM via the second network ring to the line interface.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining an availability of the particular video channel based on data provided by the request, wherein the data comprises a group address or a class-D Internet Protocol (IP) address.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the second network ring comprises an egress ADM in communication with a network interface of the DSLAM.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the request comprises an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) request message.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the video content is delivered as broadcast traffic, wherein the broadcast traffic comprises one or more Internet Protocol (IP) multicast envelopes.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from a customer premise via the line interface, a unicast request for a destination in the video head-end; and

delivering the unicast request to a legacy xDSL data network.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, via the line interface, a unicast request for a destination in the video head-end; and

delivering the unicast request to a dedicated data network separate from the broadcast overlay network and separate from a legacy xDSL data network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the dedicated data network comprises a virtual private network (VPN).

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from a customer premise via the line interface, a unicast request for a destination in the video head-end; and

delivering the unicast request to one of a legacy data network and a dedicated data network based at least in part on a policy decision, wherein the dedicated data network comprises a network that is separate from the broadcast overlay network and separate from the legacy data network.

16. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from the video head-end, unicast traffic whose intended destination is a customer premise; and

directing the unicast traffic to the customer premise via the line interface.

17. A computer readable medium including instructions executable by a processor to:

receive, via a line interface of a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), a request for a particular video channel;

receive video content associated with the particular video channel from a video source at the DSLAM via a broadcast overlay network having a ring topology, the ring topology including at least a first network ring and a second network ring, wherein the first network ring and the second network ring are coupled via at least one cross-connect element; and

deliver the video content received at the DSLAM via the second network ring to the line interface.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions executable by the processor to determine an availability of the video content associated with the particular video channel based at least in part on data that includes at least one of a group address and a class-D Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein the data is provided by the request.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the request comprises an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) request.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the DSLAM is coupled to a dedicated data network separate from the broadcast overlay network, the DSLAM to receive unicast traffic whose intended destination is a customer premise and to direct the unicast traffic to the customer premise via the line interface.